Toward Sustainable Communities

Backcasting is an approach of reflection on what has worked or failed and to set new goals based on desired system change.

BAD (Brownfields, Abandoned, Dilapidated) buildings are unused structures and properties with no prospect for return to functional use.

BANANA is an acronym meaning “build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody”.

Bartering provides cash-free access to goods and services for people who may not otherwise have cash available for transactions.

Benchmarking refers to the longitudinal comparison to a baseline measurement.

Bicycle routes may share travel lanes with vehicles (with share the road signage).

Bike lanes are separated from vehicles by distance, pavement indicators, or built dividers.

bike station is a 24-hour secure indoor bike parking facility.

Bike-sharing programs differ from a simple rental service: bikes can be rented at one location and returned at another, unique technology is used for payment (smart cards, mobile apps), and the bike-sharing is designed as part of the transit system.

Biocapacity is measured in gha that represent an average of bioproductive capacity, i.e., the renewable ecological goods and services available for consumption.

Biomimicry is the emulation of nature’s engineering, such as the inspiration of birds in flight to create technologies like airplanes. It recognizes the value of nature-based solutions to many pressing challenges.

Biophilia, or “love of life,” signifies the human need to connect with nature, served by inserting natural patterns into the built environment. It recognizes the value of nature-based solutions to many pressing challenges.

BIPOC refers to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color populations.

Block grants have general provisions for using the money from federal grants and subsidies and enable creativity.

Blue/green infrastructure (BGI) refers to planned and designed spaces, networks, and systems that maximize the ecosystem benefits of urban water flows and open spaces, support species protection, and maintain local biodiversity.

Bonding relational capital is a sense of group identity, shared values, and norms that fosters self-efficacy and agency.

Bridging relational capital is a sense of trust, respect, and care across group differences.

Brownfield is a property where previous commercial or industrial activities have caused known or suspected environmental contamination.

Brownfield redevelopment reclaims and repurposes abandoned manufacturing and other industrial sites.

Building permit allocation uses a merit system to award points for recreational amenities, landscaping and open space, design quality, impact on the local infrastructure, and energy efficiency.

The capabilities approach to well-being refers to the ability to develop and create a culturally desirable quality of life.

Capital improvement programs cover all investments in physical infrastructure and facilities, including construction, maintenance, improvement, and replacement.

Capital is wealth devoted to producing more wealth.

Capitalist economy means that the factors of production, including natural resources, labor, financing, and operations are owned by private actors who seek profits above all else.

Carbon capture and storage/sequestration solutions are climate solutions related to the trapping of carbon emissions after they have been emitted but before they enter our atmosphere or the storage of removed or captured carbon in various environmental reservoirs.

Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of GHGs generated by human activity.

Carbon sinks are spheres that absorb more carbon than they produce, like forests and oceans.

Carpooling is ride-sharing to the same destination.

Carrying capacity considers the degree to which natural ecosystems can remain viable while continuing to provide critical resources to support human populations.

Car-sharing refers to car ownership shared between many members.

Categorical grants carry detailed instructions of how federal grants and subsidies may be spent.

Circular economy is a response to the need to manage the ever-increasing waste generated within the “take-make-dispose” model of the predominant economy; it advocates for zero waste.

Climate emergency is declared by governments or other organizations to enable responses to the climate crisis such as mitigation, adaptation, and equity strategies.

Code enforcement ensures building codes and other ordinances continue to be met while preventing other nuisances on the site.

Cogeneration systems use a power station to simultaneously generate electricity and useful heat to power and heat buildings, with one-third less fuel than is needed to produce each separately.

Cohousing refers to a more cooperative lifestyle of housing. Cohousing residents typically own their individual homes but share common areas.

Collector streets gather local traffic from a neighborhood or district and connect it to the wider roadway network.

The commons refers to local assets and resources that are shared by the whole community.

Communities for all are initiatives based on the notion that communities should be encouraged to sustain support for all their members.

Community action agencies (CAAs) are locally focused public or nonprofit agencies that serve low-income populations.

Community capacity refers to a geographic area’s collective ability, commitment, and resources needed to foster and sustain positive change.

Community development actors are local bodies such as government agencies at all jurisdictional levels, but led by local leaders; anchor institutions like hospitals, colleges/universities, libraries, and museums; nonprofit organizations, including faith-based groups and charitable funders; businesses, including those involved in land development as well as those providing employment and necessary goods and services; and residents affected by decisions and actions at hand, often organized as volunteer civic groups.

Community development corporations (CDCs) are private nonprofit organizations that usually serve a specific neighborhood or group of neighborhoods, but some also serve a specific population in a larger geographic area.

Community development finance institutions (CDFIs) include credit unions, community development banks, community development loan funds, and venture capital funds. They share a basic mission to expand economic opportunity for all, but the business models and legal structures are the differentiating characteristics.

Community economic development (CED) is a sustainable, community-based alternative approach to growing the local economy and achieving local prosperity.

Community foundations direct and manage public reinvestment in specific communities and may allow a much longer time horizon for outcomes.

Community gardens are a very popular method for food production on vacant lots and in neighborhood parks, while also building skills and relationships.

Community housing development organizations (CHDOs) are private and nonprofit, organized by community stakeholders to provide adequate and affordable housing to current and future residents.

Community income is spending the money within the community locally to generate local community benefits.

Community is defined as a group of people bound by geography and shared experiences in a human-scale settlement, such as a small city, town, village, or neighborhood in a larger city.

Community land trusts (CLTs) are locally controlled nonprofit organizations that acquire, hold, and lease out land for the development of permanently affordable housing, the preservation of heritage buildings, the creation of jobs and community facilities, and the promotion of other community uses like urban agriculture, neighborhood parks, and transit-oriented development.

Community organizing, or organizing toward community change, aims to build community voice and empowerment, guide plans for change, and enable collective action.

Community pantries and kitchens is a community-based intervention that has grown in popularity and is often supported by a food bank or other local organization.

Community supported fisheries (CSFs) refer to small-scale and often family-run fishing operations that provide freshly caught local seafood to local markets.

Community-based forestry (CBF) is the management of forested landscapes by community residents for community and societal benefit.

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is an academic term for managing a common natural resource collectively and democratically within a community.

Community-based organizations provide goods and services the market will not supply due to insufficient profit margins, or those the government will not deliver due to insufficient capacity.

In community-owned businesses, community shareholders become the equity investors and owners of the business to ensure its goods or services are made available in the community.

Compact cities are urban areas that efficiently use land for all purposes through densification and appropriate mixing of land uses. 

Complementary production refers to goods and services that benefit the public that are generated and distributed by independent private individuals, nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, or networks.

Complete street design considers the accessibility needs of adjacent land uses and transforms the public street right-of-way into a vibrant environment that supports economic development, active lifestyles, and mobility for people of all ages and abilities, while expanding urban forests and green space.

Comprehensive plans are long-range plans, typically with a ten-year scope that is updated every five years or when events cause significant contextual changes or forecasts (e.g., natural disasters, pandemics, demographic changes, new technologies or industries, new state/provincial or federal laws).

Consumption corridors is a notion developed by multidisciplinary scientists that advocates ensuring everyone is able to live well within planetary limits.

Cooperative is a member-owned private enterprise, with members being workers and/or consumers.

Credit unions are cooperative, nonprofit corporations created by and for people affiliated by a common bond, for the purpose of promoting thrift among members and loaning funds to members at reasonable interest rates.

Crowdfunding is an approach to independent (and unregulated) equity investment without an expected return beyond ensuring the product or service will become available on the market.

Cultural displacement occurs when minority areas see a rapid decline in their numbers as affluent, white gentrifiers replace the incumbent residents.

Daylighting waterways is the blue/green infrastructure (BGI) process of removing obstructions that are covering a river, stream, creek, or drainage way.

Decarbonization is the reduction of carbon in the atmosphere and requires converting to an economic system that sustainably lowers and compensates the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to create a CO₂-free global economy.

Degrowth is a theory and movement that includes transforming production and consumption patterns in high-income societies as opposed to endless economic growth.

Deliberation aims to move from divergent thinking, through difficult conversations, through convergent thinking, to a decision.

Demand-side energy management focuses on reducing or managing customer demand.

Demand-side water management means encouraging and requiring more efficient use of water.

Densification means increasing the numbers of housing units or commercial facilities built per acre of land, to increase the efficiency of land use and reduce the overall impact of growth.

Density bonuses offer developers a density level that surpasses current zoning in exchange for amenities needed by the community, such as parks, heritage preservation, and affordable housing, or greener development.

Density is a way of measuring land uses, land users, or housing units on a specified area of land (e.g., acre or hectare). Several indicators of density are commonly used in regard to residential development.

Development refers to qualitative changes, such as improvements in health, knowledge, quality of life, social justice, and efficient use of renewable resources.

Dialogue is an exchange of opinions that aims to build mutual understanding of meanings, beliefs, and values.

Disaster capitalism promotes economic growth, technology, and big data as the ultimate solutions to recovery from a crisis, as opposed to changes to the economic system itself.

District energy systems are systems in which a central plant creates steam, hot water, or chilled water and distributes it to each building through a system of underground pipes. The power plant may be fueled by a variety of renewable energy sources.

Doughnut economics is a framework developed by economist Kate Raworth as a conceptual tool to help decision makers ensure social and economic quality of life (meeting everyone’s basic needs as the inner circle of the doughnut) within planetary ecosystem boundaries (outer circle).

Downtown districts were historically the main public gathering space and center of business activity.

Down-zoning may retain the character but decreases the value of the property.

Eco-industrial parks exist to strengthen connections between businesses with complementary production processes: the by-product or waste of one business becomes the feedstock or energy source for others.

Ecological economics is the field that aims to address the interdependence and co-evolution of human economies and natural ecosystems. It differs from environmental economics, the mainstream economic analysis of the environment, by virtue of its treatment of the human economy as a subsystem of the natural ecosystem (hence the limits to growth and technology) and its emphasis upon preserving and regenerating natural resources.

Economic leakage or consumption leakage occurs when community members travel elsewhere to spend their locally generated income on nonlocal goods, or when they purchase products within the community that were manufactured elsewhere.

Edible landscape practices are urban farming practices in public rights-of-way, free for anyone to harvest.

Edible landscapes refers to the use of food plants in a garden or landscape; these plants can be used for aesthetic value and/or consumption.

Embodied cultural capital is intangible and deeply anchored in mental and physical dispositions, worldviews, myths, values, beliefs, and traditions.

Eminent domain in the United States refers to the power of a state or the federal government to take private property for public use without the property owner's consent The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution requires just compensation to be given to the original property owner.

Empowerment in the field of community development is the degree of autonomy and self-determination felt by individuals, groups, and communities.

Energy democracy means that both the sources and the ownership of energy production and distribution are locally owned and equitable.

Energy retrofits in buildings refers to replacing inefficient appliances such as furnaces, water heaters, and refrigerators and preventing heat loss through proper insulation and air sealing.

Entities with a resilience deficit experience greater impact from disruptions, recovery takes longer, and their options are reduced.

Entities with a resilience dividend invest in resilience and experience lesser impacts from disruptions, recover faster, and their opportunities expand.

Environmental conservation generally manages land and bodies of water used by humans in a sustainable manner.

Environmental preservation keeps land and bodies of water pristine and excluded from human use.

Environmental protection generally prevents land, water, and air pollution from human waste.

Environmental restoration recovers already degraded or damaged ecosystems.

Environmentally sensitive areas (ESA) are specific zones within the community’s blue/green infrastructure that provide ecological services critical to both human and wildlife habitats.

Euclidean zoning codes in the U.S. are named for the 1926 Supreme Court decision in Euclid v. Ambler that upheld the power of local governments to determine which properties or zones in towns are most suitable for specific uses—even if considered potentially detrimental to the interests or desires of property owners.

Exclusionary zoning is another frequently used term to describe the separation of land uses (i.e., single-family residential developments are allowed while multifamily residential and retail and other forms of commercial development are excluded).

Externalities are costs not quantified and not included in cost-benefit calculations.

Farmer’s markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) enable urbanites to purchase the freshest vegetables directly from growers.

Fiscal federalism refers to the ability of the federal government to guide community development through federal investments and technical assistance. Federal monies are awarded directly to large cities or funneled through states in the form of grants and subsidies administered by many agencies.

Floor space ratio (FSR) or floor area ratio (FAR) compares the area of floor space in buildings to the area of the property or lot. These ratios are pertinent to both building height and available open space.

Food banks distribute free food or offer subsidized food prices.

Food community networks (FCNs) encompass the governance structures that connect food producers with consumers in a way that promotes socially resilient, environmentally conscious, economically robust communities.

Food deserts are areas with convenience stores and gas stations rather than grocery stores and supermarkets often lack healthy affordable food.

Food hub is a centrally located facility with a business management structure facilitating the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and/or marketing of locally/regionally produced food products.

Food policy councils (FPCs) provide an arena for citizens to voice their concerns. They offer support and planning for regional food system issues and can involve various food system actors, e.g., consumer-citizens, producers, policymakers, public health officials, and retailers.

Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to control their own food systems, ecological resources, food cultures (foodways), and markets.

Food system is the term used to encompass the various actors who supply the food that we eat.

Forecasting is an approach of exploration of emerging conditions, opportunities, and potential scenarios.

The form of government determines legislative powers, roles, and responsibilities; executive powers, roles, and responsibilities; citizen powers (voting, initiative, referendum, recall); and basic fiscal and functional operations.

Form-based zoning focuses on the form or design of buildings rather than their use. Rather than divide land into different kinds of uses (e.g., residential, commercial), form-based codes emphasize the physical character and context of the area.

Gateways and wayfinding signage are another element of transportation infrastructure that that directs drivers along dedicated routes to their destination.

Gentrification is the redesign of urban centers that increases land values and pushes current residents and businesses out of the area.

Givings and takings of property rights refers to the transfer of property rights between the state and private owners.

Governance is the process through which citizens, stakeholders, and governments work together to guide independent and collective action. Governance includes all the political, legal, and administrative activities undertaken in making, implementing, and evaluating public policy.

Governance networks are intergovernmental or cross-sector groups based on long-standing relationships and engaging in governance of a particular policy issue in a designated geographic area.

Government agencies are permanent or semi-permanent organizations within a national, state, or local government and are responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions.

Grassroots refers to organizations or leaders that are local in a community or region and form the basis for a political or economic movement.

Green banks offer favorable financing rates and terms for renewable energy projects and similarly challenged markets.

Green building standards include the architectural design, relationship to the natural environment, materials used in construction, and actual construction and operations practices.

Green business refers to economic activities that avoid harm to the environment or that help protect or improve the ecosystem in some way.

Green collar jobs are green jobs that comprise a new vocational or trades sub-sector with environmentally supportive technology and skills.

Green economy is an aggregate of all activity operating with the primary intention of reducing conventional levels of resource consumption, harmful emissions, and minimizing all forms of environmental impact.

Green jobs is defined as work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development, administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality.

Green roof, or rooftop garden, is a vegetative layer grown on a roof.

Green streets combine sustainable landscape techniques to create aesthetically pleasing planted areas in the overall design of the street.

Green terraces use plantings to cover the sides of the building.

Greenbelts are areas that conserve agriculture or wildlife and prevent urban sprawl.

Greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that occurs because the exponential rise of GHG emissions because of human activities enhances heat retention and causes further warming of the planet.

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are naturally occurring compounds in our atmosphere (with the exception of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs). In order of abundance, GHGs include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, ground-level ozone (a component of smog), and halocarbons such as CFCs and other synthetic gases.

Greyfield development reclaims commercial strip corridors and parking lots for more compact urban development.

Greywater is water used only for cooking, laundry, and bathing.

Gross density includes all land uses within a given area and can be expressed as persons-per-acre or -hectare, or dwellings-per-acre or -hectare.

Growth boundaries place limitations on the expansion of urban development to slow outward growth and redirect growth to the city’s interior

Growth machine refers to the set of actors engaged in pro-growth development nearly 50 years ago. Growth machine theory asserts that the fundamental purpose of city governments is to promote development that is in the interest of those who most benefit, including landowners and developers, attorneys, realtors, lenders, business leaders, newspapers, universities, and utility companies. This early theory, however, overlooked government itself as a self-interested party in revenue-generating growth decisions.

Growth management policies can slow sprawl and incentivize infill and redevelopment through various tools; they encourage the efficient use of land, help protect valuable farmland and open space, and help improve existing neighborhoods.

Growth means quantitative increases in population, production, and income.

Guaranteed income or universal basic income is a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly.

Happiness can be defined as a positive emotional state consisting not only of feelings of joy and contentment, but also of a sense that one's life is meaningful and valued.

Hard path water management includes stormwater management strategies like green roofs, rain barrels, rainwater gardens, ad detention ponds.

Hegemonic means having total control in a political or social context.

High tunnels are temporary structures like greenhouses that protect plants from severe weather and extend the growing seasons.

High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, a variation of HOV lanes, give priority to carpools and buses as they are not charged toll fees.

High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes can be used by motor vehicles carrying more than a specified minimum number of people and therefore move more people than regular lanes.

Highways are the most intensive kind of arterial road as they provide the greatest level of high-speed traffic service.

Home rule is the counter argument to limited local autonomy. Where local governments have home rule, they have greater authority and discretion over their form of government, certain substantive policies, and taxation and debt.

Homeownership subsidies can stimulate spending and employment in the local economy and bring revenue to the community.

Housing co-operatives provide a community of not-for-profit homes for individuals of all levels of income (but primarily low to middle).

Hybrid zoning combines elements of Euclidean and form-based codes (see examples in Chapter 7).

Hydrological cycle, or hydrologic or water cycle, is the continuous circulation of water within the Earth’s hydrosphere, which is driven by solar radiation.

Hydroponics are produced in a soilless medium while aquaponics uses aquaculture to create a water circulatory system in which fish are raised in tanks and the water from the tanks is recirculated into the plant beds, so the plants can absorb nutrients from fish waste in the water.

Impact evaluation refers to measuring change and progress toward established goals and objectives; it examines the degree of change to the baseline conditions, along with interactive effects to other forms of community capital.

Incentive zoning and performance zoning are zoning density innovations that establish land use goals while remaining flexible in how they are achieved.

Indicators, or metrics (measurements), are specific evidence to be measured to assess progress and change and compare to available standards.

Individual development accounts (IDAs) are a wealth-building strategy using matched savings accounts for low-income individuals that can be used for post-secondary education, business development or entrepreneurship, and first-time homeownership.

Individualization refers to the postmodern society experienced as a community made by people without any real community, i.e., a society based in individualism and isolation.

Industrial parks are sites of land designed specifically to promote industrial activities through integration with transportation facilities and other supportive infrastructure.

Infill development intensifies what is already built, including vacant land between buildings.

Institutional cultural capital is expressed through societal norms, values, and expectations. In short, it frames the rules and practices used throughout a society’s institutional systems—political, economic, and civic.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

Integrated resource planning, often called integrated water resources management (IWRM) due to its origination in long-range watershed planning, is a process that considers mutual impacts among water, land, and related resources within the regional boundaries and requires coordination among and between various levels of government and their functional departments.

Intensification means changing land uses from agricultural to residential, from residential to commercial, and from commercial to industrial.

Just sustainability bridges the “environmental quality–human equality” divide and implies a paradigm shift that requires a redistributive function in sustainability practice.

Labor includes all human exertion.

Land banking allows government agencies to purchase important properties to ensure land use for the public good and even to use powers of eminent domain to force the sale of such private properties for public benefit.

Land includes all material things provided by nature

Land value capture (LVC) is a way to fund construction and rehabilitation of needed urban infrastructure and other municipal programs. The idea is that higher land value taxes will keep private landowners from unfairly capturing the benefits of natural resources, urban locations, and public services.

LEED for Cities is a program that provides a way to evaluate energy and water use, human experience, waste production, and transportation usage on a city scale.

LEED Neighborhood Design (LEED-ND) is a certification process for sustainable neighborhood design that integrates green building principles with those of Smart Growth and New Urbanism.

In lending circles borrowers receive guidance and support from others who have successfully repaid a micro-loan and cannot get additional loans until other members’ loans are repaid.

Local currencies encourage investment and reinvestment in local business and discourage leakage of dollars outside the community.

Local streets provide vehicular access to properties.

A location quotient (LQ) indicates if a region produces more of a good or service than is needed to satisfy its own local demand.

Location-efficient mortgages are designed to ensure mortgages are more affordable in inner-city locations compared to suburban and outlying areas.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit  is a major funding strategy for affordable rental housing, through which private investors receive a federal income tax credit as an incentive to make equity investments in affordable housing.

LULU is an acronym meaning “locally unacceptable land uses”.

Material footprint is an index measuring raw materials extracted to meet final consumption demands and varies greatly across countries and income levels.

means of production are land, labor, information, and the capital necessary to create required infrastructure of a physical or technical nature.

Microenterprises are defined by the Small Business Administration as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation with fewer than five employees (including the owner).

Microgrid is a self-sufficient energy system that serves a particular geographic area, such as a college campus, hospital complex, business center, or neighborhood. Power is usually generated by one or more form of renewable energy (e.g., hydropower, solar panels, wind turbines, cogenerated heat and power).

Micromobility vehicles assist pedestrian mobility and include skateboards, standing scooters, and other low-speed vehicles that can seamlessly navigate highly populated urban areas in the same manner as bicycles.

Mixed-use zoning allows a wide array of land uses aimed at reducing distances between where people live, work, shop, and recreate.

Mobility is about maximizing personal travel and goods movement.

multi-use paths may be used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and other low-speed vehicles.

Mutual housing associations  are private nonprofit corporations created to develop, own, and manage affordable housing.

Native species refers to species that are established within a region or an ecosystem, having naturally evolved there over thousands of years.

Natural carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon moves between the atmosphere and all living beings.

Natural income are the benefits that flow from the use of natural capital.

Nature-based solutions, also called natural infrastructure or natural and nature-based features, employ sustainable planning, design, environmental management, and engineering practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience.

Neoliberal capitalism emphasizes market freedom and leadership from the finance sector.

Nested plans refers to connected local and regional plans and is a concept useful for thinking the larger context for local or municipal planning.

Net density refers to the number of dwellings located on residential building sites and excludes roads, parks, and other non-residential land uses. It can also be used as an indicator of density for a given building form.

Net zero greenhouse gas emissions means that carbon emissions are fully re-absorbed from the atmosphere by oceans, forests, and other carbon sinks.

New urbanism is a set of planning principles designed to reinvigorate communities and provide a meaningful alternative to suburban sprawl. Variations on new urbanism include neo-traditional town planning, traditional neighborhood development, pedestrian pockets, transit- or pedestrian-oriented development, and complete communities.

NIMBY is an acronym meaning “not in my back yard”.

NIMTOO is an acronym meaning “not in my term of office”.

Non-operating foundations only distribute funds to other public charities, typically via competitive grants.

Non-profit organizations are associations, clubs, or societies that are not charities and are organized and operated exclusively for social welfare, civic improvement, pleasure, recreation, or any other purpose except profit.

Non-refundable tax credits mean that the amount deducted cannot exceed the amount of tax owed.

Non-renewable resources are natural resources that can be extracted and used until they are no longer available (i.e., fossil fuels, minerals, and land area).

Nutrition security has emerged as a more holistic approach to food security by ensuring the intake of nutrient-rich foods that support a healthy lifestyle.

Objectified cultural capital is the most material type, including buildings and gardens, music, dress, visual art, food, celebrations, and language. It can also include technologies and other collectively generated products.

Open spaces are natural environments in and around human settlements that provide wildlife habitats and scenic places and views for enjoyment.

Operating budget refers to all expenditures related to staffing and day-to-day operation of services.

Operating foundations conduct and fund their own charitable activities.

Operationalization is the process of defining a phenomenon in empirically measurable terms, whether quantitative or qualitative.

Outcomes monitoring and evaluation refers to measuring change and progress toward established goals and objectives; it assesses progress toward anticipated outcomes, particularly when proximal or short-term outcomes are expected along the path toward long-term outcomes.

Overlay zoning districts combine incentive and performance zoning in a specific area (e.g., downtown, cultural, entertainment, historic).

Partner banks are credit unions, community banks, CDFIs, and revolving loan funds.

Pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) vehicle insurance bases premiums on vehicle use (measured in minutes or distance) during the term of the policy, rewarding people who drive less with lower insurance premiums.

Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) is a type of tax relief only available to public and charitable organizations—assessed fees are negotiated between the local government and the other entity.

Peer-to-peer equity investment programs refer to investing money in notes issued by borrowers who are requesting a loan without going through a traditional financial intermediary.

Permeable pavement, like compacted crushed stone, allows water to be absorbed and filtered where it falls.

Perverse subsidies are created by government policies that serve to artificially suppress the costs of doing business and result in the positive effects of a subsidy being outweighed by its negative effects.

A planning commission in the U.S. is a citizen advisory body that provides guidance to local governments for the preparation, administration, and revision of comprehensive plans.

Political economy refers to economic activities regulated by governments in varying degrees.

Potable water is water that meets standards for consumption.

Preferential parking incentive programs allow carpools to park downtown all day at specific metered locations, exempted from hourly parking limits and meter fees, and enjoy spaces closest to building entrances.

Private foundations are generally funded by a single source (e.g., corporation, family) and do not qualify as public charities.

Process evaluation refers to measuring change and progress toward established goals and objectives; it considers whether implementation occurs as designed or if unforeseen issues have caused unanticipated differences.

Procurement policies are a set of guidelines that establish and standardize the procedure for purchasing goods and services within an organization.

Program and project evaluation refers to measuring change and progress toward established goals and objectives; it ideally includes various approaches along the implementation timeline.

Progressive taxes are taxes in which the poor pay a comparative lower percentage of their incomes through scales rates.

Property taxes are taxes on real property, land and buildings, and are used to build public infrastructure and fund a variety of public services.

Public banks are established by local, state, or federal governments to keep capital local by investing in the public interest through community enterprises and public projects in pursuit of the long-term economic health of the communities served.

Public engagement means engagement of the citizens in deliberation and decision-making, including policy, planning, and budgeting.

Public finance essentially consists of raising public revenues and then spending them to distribute goods and services to everyone through direct expenditures or to redistribute goods and services to eligible populations or entities through welfare programs or competitive financial incentives

Public foundations are charities that garner contributions from the general public and distribute funds to other charitable nonprofits.

Public-private partnerships are a form of coproduction because they can produce more public value by leveraging and investing private assets, including financial, technological, and human resources. Public funds, expended to deliver the goods or services in question, are augmented by private resources and investments due to anticipated mutual benefits.

A public welfare system provides a social and financial safety net to individuals and families who are unable to subsist or thrive within the prevailing market.

Quid pro quo exchanges incentivize desired behavior, such as increasing alternative transportation use by reducing required parking in exchange for bicycle facilities, carpool spaces, or transit passes for tenants.

Radical community development means going to the source of what harms community well-being and empowerment to abolish it or what generates community well-being and empowerment to enable it.

Rain gardens resemble regular gardens but have a unique shape, typically like a bowl or saucer, and are specifically designed to collect runoff and hold it for a day or two as it more slowly infiltrates the surrounding soil.

Raised bed refers to a relatively small but elevated box that is filled with enough soil to support plants without using the surface or soil underneath the box.

Redevelopment refers to growth through densification and intensification of already developed areas.

Reflexive governance is an approach that acknowledges that the discovery of new knowledge will affect policy objectives. It takes into account unanticipated interdependencies that, if ignored, can produce unintended consequences even more severe than the original concern.

Regional housing development organizations (RHDOs) are independent nonprofit organizations that develop and manage affordable housing and community facilities for low-income families and populations like elders, veterans, the unhoused (or homeless), and people with special needs.

Regressive taxes are taxes in which the poor pay a comparatively higher percentage of their incomes through flat rates.

Regulatory environment are the legal and political rules and procedures to which businesses must adhere.

Relationality (as opposed to individualism) is gaining ground throughout the social sciences and philosophy and refers to the relationships between groups and their society, the relationship one has with oneself in light of others, and the relationships within and across groups.

Renewable resources are natural resources that can provide use value in perpetuity if managed sustainably (i.e., soil, water, wind, and sunlight).

Research parks or innovation districts are physical environments that can generate, attract, and retain science and technology companies and talent in alignment with sponsoring research institutions that include universities, as well as public, private and federal research laboratories.

Resilience refers to the ability of a system to absorb disturbance after a sudden shock or a continuous stress, manage change, and reorganize while still retaining its function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.

Resource interest is the newly regenerated portion of a natural resource after this resource is drawn down through use.

Restorative justice (RJ) is an inherently relational, rather than individualistic, approach to ensuring safety and security. It is a community-based alternative to traditional law enforcement and adjudication that has drawn largely from Indigenous worldviews and practices.

Retrofitting refers to replacing older technology with newer technology, without completely changing the entire system.

Revenue anticipation notes (or tax) enable borrowing against anticipated income based on recent or expected receipts.

Revenue bonds are a category of municipal bond supported by the revenue from a specific project that is being built.

revolving loan funds are generally more flexible in terms, lower in interest rate, and sometimes forgivable (as venture capital) if identified performance objectives are achieved.

Road diets, another approach to traffic calming, reduce the width or number of vehicular travel lanes and reallocate that space for uses such as bicycle lanes, pedestrian crossing islands, left turn lanes, or on-street parking.

Rural sprawl refers to the inefficient expansive use of land for hobby farms, acreages, and other small-scale low-productivity properties.

Sales and use taxes are forms of regressive taxes paid for goods and services.

Self-determination theory suggests that all humans have three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—that underlie growth and development.

Self-efficacy is an individual’s perception of their own ability to influence events that affect their lives.

Sense of belonging is the degree to which any individual or social group within a community feels that they belong.

Sense of community refers to the psychological and emotional feeling about how a place and its people are experienced.

Sense of place relates to sensory, perceptual, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of human experience and tangible and intangible aspects of cultural capital.

Sewage or wastewater systems collect the wastewater from homes, businesses, and many industries and deliver it to treatment plants, most of which clean it for safe discharge.

Shared equity housing refers to non-market forms of tenure that prevent the loss of affordably priced units and preserve housing quality and homeownership security.

Shared parking means that two or more land uses share the same parking spaces.

Slow food is a global movement to ensure the preservation of local food cultures to promote healthy, culturally sustained lifestyles around the world.

small businesses are those that meet the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Size Standards by industry.

Smart growth is the compromise philosophy between pro-growth and anti-growth; a planning and transportation approach that aims to avoid sprawl by concentrating growth in compact centers.

Social agency refers to the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power or influence.

Social cohesion refers to the idea of belonging to an egalitarian, mutually defined “we” that is grounded in mutual care.

Social economy includes associations, cooperatives, social enterprises, mutual aid groups, and foundations whose activity is driven by values of solidarity, the primacy of people over capital, and democratic and participative governance.

Soft path water management seeks to improve overall productivity and complements the hard path by investing in decentralized facilities, efficient technologies and policies, and human capital.

Solidarity means that one acts in mutual support with others due to shared purpose, interests, or empathy and care.

Split-rate property taxes apply differential tax rates to the taxable value of properties, with a higher rate applied to land value and a lower rate applied to structures and improvements.

Straight piping is when wastewater is released from a home directly into the ground or nearby stream or water body due to lack of access to a sewage system or septic tank.

Strategy is a notion linked to planning because strategic plans establish how an organization will pursue its purpose; they are powerful tools for moving a community, organization, or program from existing conditions to desired outcomes.

Street hierarchy is the conceptual arrangement of streets based upon function, from high-traffic arterial to residential.

Strong sustainability recognizes that, in most cases, non-natural assets cannot be substituted for natural assets because irreversible processes (e.g., species extinction or ecosystem destruction) mean that the former cannot be converted back into the latter.

Sustainability science aims to support sustainability efforts through an integrated approach to six capacities of measuring sustainable development, promoting equity, adapting to shocks and surprises, transforming the system into more sustainable development pathways, linking knowledge with action, and devising governance arrangements that allow people to work together in exercising the other capacities.

Sustainable implies a constant state, or the ability of a system to maintain, uphold, or preserve its functions. Thus, “a sustainable society is one that can persist over generations, one that is farseeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support.”

Sustainable community development is the field of development that refers to locally focused and solutions-oriented development with respect to all three dimensions of sustainable development: environmental, economic, and social.

Sustainable development is the process and activities leading toward the end state of sustainability.

Sustainable infrastructure is infrastructure that both stimulates and decarbonizes the economy.

Tax exemptions are ways that reduce the amount of income that is subject to income tax.

Tax incentives are taxes designed as incentives to benefit the public in some way, for example, to increase employment opportunities, affordable housing opportunities, or public amenities.

Tax increment financing (TIF) is a statutory procedure to encourage the redevelopment of designated areas.

Thermodynamics deals with the transfer of energy from one place to another and from one form to another and poses limits, which, if exceeded (by depleting resources faster than they regenerate year after year) will lead to collapse.

Toll is a fee charged for road use that can reduce total vehicle travel and road maintenance costs, increase road safety, protect the environment, and encourage more efficient land use.

Traffic calming uses physical constraints to ensure that driver behavior is appropriate to adjacent land uses and alternative modes of transportation and to direct higher-speed traffic to appropriate corridors.

Traffic management is about maximizing motor vehicle traffic and speed.

Transfer of development rights allows landowners to transfer development value to other sites if current holdings are placed in conservation or trust.

Transition management is a form of multi-level governance whereby state and non-state actors are brought together to co-produce and coordinate policies in an iterative and evolutionary manner.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) districts incentivize higher density and mixed-use development near transit stops and stations.

Transportation demand management (TDM, also called mobility management) is a general term for strategies that result in more efficient use of transportation resources by providing travelers with choices.

Transportation System Management (TSM) aims to enhance the supply of transportation services by increasing the person-carrying capacity of the road system without building additional road capacity.

Trauma-informed community building (TICB) efforts seek to acknowledge cultural dominance and oppression as the basis for investment in cultural capital and building self-efficacy through programs that follow a social-ecological model that considers individual, interpersonal, community, and systems-level determinants of well-being.

Triple bottom line refers to John Elkington’s concept (and management and accounting method) that promotes people and planet considerations in a business’s sustainability goals, along with profit.

True-cost pricing refers to charging consumers based on the volume of water used at prices high enough to cover all service costs.

Upcycling means reusing old materials to create something more valuable or of a higher quality.

Up-zoning increases the density or intensity of allowed development and thus increases the value of the property but changes the character of development (often contributing to gentrification).

Urban ecology is the study of human settlements as part of living ecosystems.

Urban forestry is a community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) strategy designed to manage trees growing in public rights-of-way and municipal properties.

Urban forestry means properly placed trees that provide shade, windbreaks, and evapotranspiration (lowering ambient temperatures).

Urban growth philosophies are ways to enable both quantitative and qualitative growth in an urban area, while minimizing the uptake of non-renewable natural resources.

Urban heat island effect occurs when the absence of tree or vegetative cover raises temperatures in urban areas.

Urban sprawl refers to development of previously undeveloped land including in near-in suburbs and farther away exurbs.

Urban sprawl refers to the inefficient expansive use of land for urban activities, often described as suburban development.

Urban transportation hierarchy means following this order of priority: 1) pedestrians, 2) bicycles, 3) public transit, 4) trucks, taxis, and commercial vehicles, 5) high-occupancy vehicles, and 6) single-occupancy vehicles.

Urbanization refers to the creation of urban or suburban landscapes in formerly rural areas.

Vertical gardening is a technique that employs biophilic design principles to grow food in a compact space, while reducing water usage and cooling buildings.

Walkability is a way to measure the quality of pedestrian amenities.

Water conservation means satisfying a community’s water needs, while reducing or minimizing overall water use.

Water demand offset refers to policies that require developers for example to retrofit toilets and showerheads in their existing buildings so that there is no net increase in water demand from proposed development.

Water mains are large underground pipes through which water is distributed once purified and they generally located under the streets.

Water retrofits lower use of municipal water and postpone or avoid large-scale system upgrades.

Water-neutral development is a legal requirement that new and existing developments must offset increased water demand, either through conservation (e.g., efficient appliances or irrigation systems) or augmenting new supplies to achieve net neutral use.

Watersheds are the land areas that recharge aquifers and feed bodies of water through rainwater and snowmelt runoff due to their topography.

Weak sustainability assumes that non-natural assets can substituted for natural assets and depleting natural assets is not problematic if profits generated provide an equivalent endowment to the next generation.

A whole-building-systems approach maximizes natural sources of light, heat, cooling, and ventilation to minimize waste production, conserve energy and water, reduce carbon emissions, and lower exposure to toxins over the building’s life cycle.

Xeriscape is a type of gardening or landscaping that aims to reduce or completely eliminate the need for irrigation.

Zoning districts indicate the use (e.g., agriculture, housing, commercial, industrial), subdivision rules (e.g., the size of parcels), density controls (e.g., building footprint, height, number of dwelling units), and numerous possible engineering and design standards (e.g., parking spaces, street orientation, windows, landscaping).

Zoning districts or zones are typically defined by three factors: the activity taking place on the land or in buildings on it, the shape of buildings (e.g., height and relationship to adjacent properties and public right-of-way), and the size of buildings and their orientation to adjacent streets.

Zoning maps indicate the development rights on each legal parcel of land within the jurisdiction and are integral to the zoning ordinance.

Zoning ordinances or codes are county and municipal laws that designate what type of development can occur on every property within its jurisdiction.